Merit Based Policies Work!
Merit-Based Policies Work! By: Nicole Schmidt Business owners want to do the right thing. Merit based policies are the only way to ensure you are hiring and rewarding the best employees for your organization. The programs and policies you implement for hiring, performance reviews, pay increases and promotions should all be focused on what and how much the employee contributes to the company. Your organization needs employees who will help to make the company successful. When trickle down goals are implemented, and your employees are meeting company objectives everyone benefits! The four main areas where merit-based policies and practices can have a huge impact on your company are:
- Hiring
- Performance reviews
- Pay increases
- Promotions
In Hiring: We always want to ensure there is a diverse pool of talent in which to choose the best person. However, at the end of the day, your company will want to hire people who bring the most proficient skills and highest qualifications needed to get the job done. Not only do companies want someone who will get the job done, they need employees who will get the job done well, and exceed expectations, to ultimately surpass your competition. Companies need a diverse perspective and background in order to be open to expanded thought and better ways to do the work. This does not overshadow the need for the chosen candidate to have the skills, education and experience necessary to excel. In Performance Reviews: Stick to the facts. A performance review should only be focused on the key responsibilities for the job this person was hired to do. Assessing performance based on the accomplishment of key job functions is essential to ensure work is done accurately and effectively. The performance review itself is a great tool to ensure conversations are had between manager and employee. How can the employee improve if they don’t know what they are doing wrong? Personal factors of any kind should never be a part of the performance review. Additionally, keep your relationships professional so that personal bias or favoritism does not influence your rating. Pay Increase Practices: In my years working as an HR professional in the public sector, I have seen many different strategies to allocate pay increases. The approach that was always the most successful and most fair, is to use an objective approach. Do not consider someone’s marital status, number of children they have or where they live, etc. when making compensation decisions. I have heard of managers who provided a higher increase to an employee because they recently had a new baby – this is totally inappropriate! We always need to focus on the job and how the employee is meeting expectations and accomplishing established goals. In a competitive marketplace, it is essential that we allocate those precious increase dollars appropriately. Promotional Practices: The employee promotion process may be two-fold: a) There is a need to fill an open role b) The employee is actually doing higher level work In reality, even if there is an open manager or higher-level role, the person you move into the job needs to have the initiative and proven performance experience to warrant a promotion. In conclusion: Companies need to stay focused on the bottom line. What is your organization doing with new and existing staff to make the company more successful and profitable? Take a moment (or two) now to review your hiring, performance review, pay increases and promotional policies. Is your focus on bringing in, rewarding and advancing the best of the best employees? If not, why not? If there is any doubt that employees are being brought in just because you need a warm body, there is a problem. In hiring; is the person truly the best candidate? With your performance reviews; are the ratings based on accomplishment of key objectives? When doing pay increases; Are increases given even if performance does not meet expectations? Promotions; Are promotions provided to those who worked their way up with proven successful outcomes? Changes may need to be made in your policies which will influence the consistent procedures you implement. Keeping a close eye on merit-based initiatives will go a long way to ensure continued success in your organization. Go for it!
